Naruto: Ready, Set, Cook!
by ladyasile
Summary: Rated T just to be safe. Naruto and the rest of the shinobi are suddenly thrown into a cooking competition. Way more interesting than this.
1. Chapter 1

**NARUTO: READY, SET, COOK!**

A/N: My first fan fiction. BTW, my sis inspired and helped with this! Hm, some OOC-ness. Um, there is no real timeline for this. XP If you want one so badly then it will be before Sasuke-kun runs to Orochimaru-sama. Hm, but other than that…I think that's all. Maybe some hints of boy love/yaoi/ shonen ai, but in later chapters. It won't be big though. J OOPS! Also rated T for cursing/swearing. Just a tad bit…

Oh, and I hope you enjoy this!! Thanks, bye!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Hell's Kitchen at all, or else I could have whatever I want!! Including world domination!!!! XP

**Chapter 1: The beginning of chaos**

"Come on, Neji, come on!" the overly obnoxious blond yelled.

They had recently entered in a cooking competition, where all of the shinobi of Konoha were to prove their ninja skills while attacking other important issues such as cooking. After all, food is a necessity for any human being, much more for a ninja.

Unfortunately for some, they had to be in teams of two. Each shinobi got paired up at random, so it was a big surprise to find out that Neji of the prestigious Hyuuga clan got paired up with the Leaf's number one, hyperactive, knucklehead ninja… Naruto Uzumaki!

"Damn it! Naruto, what the hell are you doing? We were suppose to be meet over at my house two hours ago!!" Neji being the impatient teenager that he is, decided to go look for Naruto, his partner, to discuss their predicament. However, Naruto had decided to go and do what, everyone?

A) Pick a fight with Sasuke-kun

B) Flirt with Sakura-chan

C) Eat ramen

If you chose A or B, you are correct!!! Nah, he decided to eat ramen.

"Sorry, but I just wanted some ramen!! Can a guy get some without getting yelled at?" Naruto shouted in defense, making Neji's blood boil even more in rage. "You can have some damn ramen after we win this competition!! My name and reputation is at stake here!! And I will not let you tarnish it!" Neji shouted back with full volume.

Naruto knew that everyone wanted to win this competition, but honestly the poor guy had no clue what cooking was all about. Although he did know that all of Konoha was going to watch them perform at their best! 'Kind to think about it, how the heck did this all start anyway?' Naruto tried to remember, leaving a poor Hyuuga to consider death as another option instead of going on with this competition.

_Flashback_

"_All of you have come here today to compete in the ultimate ninja battle of all time!" The Third Hokage began. "Each of you will be put to the test. And in the end we will all see which duo has the best skills to take on the toughest mission by far to have ever reached this village." All the elder shinobi kept their eyes on the Hokage, while the younger ones kept glancing at various areas around them. They had all been summoned to the training grounds urgently._

"_As you can see, some of the shinobi from neighboring villages have come too. You will all compete against other teams made up of two ninjas, the remaining duo will win the mission and a marvelous prize that is worth more than the world itself!!" That of course got everyone's attention immediately. _

_Naruto could not believe his ears! What could the prize be? Maybe ramen for his entire life? Whatever it was, he was determined to get it, and show up Sasuke. Naruto knew that if he won, then Sasuke would look like a total loser in front of the whole village!! And perhaps he would win Sakura's heart in the process. Oh, yes the possibilities were endless!!_

_Others had something else in mind, though. Sakura kept on daydreaming about winning the contest with Sasuke by her side, so then Sasuke will have to admit that she was the one for him! Hinata had been only concerned about the mission that the Hokage had mentioned. She was afraid to win and then take on the mission. Kiba and Shino had only winning in mind. Neji was the same except for the gloating that he would do after winning. Tenten and Lee were just psyched up for the challenge. And as for Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru… Well, they just hoped to get away from Asuma for a while. He had been annoying them a bit too much. Temari and Kankuro were too busy with checking out the local cute guys or girls to really notice what was going on. And Gaara was staring at a young woman that caught his attention . Her long black hair, her beautiful hazel eyes, and her flawless body (A/N: not a pervert, you guys!!) had somehow caught his attention, but he remained stoic nevertheless._

_As for Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Genma, Raido, Kotetsu, Izumo, Gai, Iruka, Anko, Ibiki, Hayate, Baki, and Ebisu well, they were pretty much more relaxed than the other shinobi since they knew they were the best of the best, and the Hokage would have to choose one of them for it._

_After two hours of random rambling, the honorable Lord Hokage decided to announce the big competition. "Konohamaru, please bring the box with the slips of paper," he said to his adorable grandson, who obeyed for once without protest. _

"_Your goal for this competition is…" Everyone gawked at the old man with anticipation and eagerness._

"_To cook the best dish in all the world!" Needless to say that everyone sweat dropped and fell anime style after those words. There were many outcries from all the shinobi (though Naruto was the loudest), but they were all silenced (yeah, shut up Naruto! LOL) by a rumbling noise from behind them. _

_Lady Tsunade and the pervy Jiraiya appeared from behind in an instant! "WTF?" was the collected question. However, the Hokage only grinned at them and continued with his speech. "Two of the legendary Sannin came to judge the competition alongside myself and the Kazekage. Now then, let's get you all paired up!" _

_And that was that. There were no heroic type missions involved, and they needed to be paired up to make it worse! Neji ended up with Naruto; Sasuke with Sakura; Lee and Shikamaru; Choji with Hinata; Kiba with Shino; Ino and Temari; Tenten and Kankuro; Kakashi with Iruka; Asuma and Baki; Kurenai with Raido; Genma with Hayate; Kotetsu and Ebisu; Izumo and Gai; and Anko with Ibiki. And who did Gaara get stuck with? Well, since there was no one else he could be with, he was free to choose a partner as long as his partner was a shinobi and of his same rank if possible._

_End of flashback _

"Hm, so that's how we got into this mess," Naruto whispered to himself, but since he has such a loud voice, Neji was able to hear him. "Dumb blond!" Neji hissed with leaking rage. At first it had seem that Naruto had not heard him, but then, "Blonds will dominate!" Neji gave him a look and then gave him the single finger wave. "HEY!" Naruto was angered now. Before they wasted anymore time, Neji decided to just end the fight and get back to what really mattered: Making the most perfect dish ever! "Naruto, we have a dish to create! It will be the most delectable dish ever made! And we will win! MWUHAHAHAHA!!!" And lightning accompanied with an sinister melody suddenly appeared from nowhere.

Naruto hid under the stool from Ichiraku until he felt safe.

Six hours later….

"So what dish should we make? We need something that shows how brilliant, beautiful, benevolent--" "Benevolent? Neji, is that suppose to mean nice, 'cause you're not nice!" Naruto retorted and stuck his tongue out in a childish way, but still making his point whatsoever.

"Shut up, Naruto! I am only nice to those who are my equals, and you're not! Now what dish?!" Neji pondered for a moment, but he could not come up with anything at all. Either it was too complicated or it was too lame to do. Naruto had just kept on staring at Neji's hair. He wondered when the Hyuuga was going to realize that he had cut his hair. 'Well, he is _slow_,' thought Naruto, which caused him to snicker quietly.

Neji refused to be dragged into another pointless fight, so he ignored Naruto's childish antics. "Neji, the guy's about to close Ichiraku, where are we going to go? And what the hell are we going to cook?" Neji snapped back to reality and noticed that Naruto was right. It was already late, and they hadn't come up with anything that day. 'According to the Hokage, we have one week to come up with a dish, then we have two days to get everything ready and present it to them all." Neji was deep in thought again, which caused Naruto's patience to run out completely. So, like any other Naruto in the world, he left the poor Hyuuga boy by himself, while he went to sleep.

_Meanwhile_

'Who was that girl?" Gaara, the insomniac, kept on wondering about the girl that he saw. He had spent the majority of the time gazing at her, and taking in all of the details that he noticed. She seemed so mysterious, but that was no match for Gaara! He had been the world's greatest detective a few years ago (A/N: he thought he was, but not really), so this would not be a challenge for him, right?

He had noticed that even though she appeared to be alone there, she was in the company of two older men. Both of which looked terrifyingly powerful, and weird in his opinion. Yes, this would indeed be a challenge to solve. However, Gaara failed to notice that this certain young woman had noticed him too. And of course, Gaara was conflicted with his decision in pursuing the mystery of the girl because of his nature. He was stoic, serious, scary, and smart…The Four S's!!

"Damn my mind! Who cares if I find her attractive? Besides, I am so tired of Kankuro thinking that I am gay," he mumbled. Gaara laid down in his bed and closed his eyes, even though he could not sleep.

Tomorrow would be another day, and Gaara of the sand had a plan up his sleeve. He would discover the identity of that girl with force (most likely, ne?) or without force (yeah, right). Yes, he would get that girl's heart one way or another. However, he still needed to come up with a back up plan, and another, and another in case the others failed. You can never have enough plans, according to that lazy genius that happened to defeat Temari.

"Damn it, Kankuro, stop breathing so loudly! I can hear you through the door!" Slowly, Kankuro retreated to his underground lair of weirdness, leaving Gaara to think about his plans for the young girl.

TBC….

A/N: Well, how was it? Should there be any point of going further? Remember, we still haven't gotten to the prize nor the mission!! Well, this only took an hour to write. I had to make sure that my computer was able to get it through its brain that these names were Japanese! Sigh. LOL, it was fun, and it will get better soon!

Please review….please, from the kindness of your heart? puppy pout No flames unless you've got a good reason!! Um, I will probably update in a week or less, depending on my mood.

BYE!


	2. Chapter 2

**NARUTO: READY, SET, COOK! **

**Chapter 2: Love, Tacos, and Temptation**

A/N: Hello! I hope you are all enjoying this fan fiction! Hm, this chapter is so weird in my opinion. LOL. The same warnings still apply for this chapter. Reference back to Chapter 1 for further explanation. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Hell's Kitchen, if I did, I would be rich and not writing this!!

"What the f, Naruto?!" A furious Hyuuga grabbed the poor blond by the collar of his orange jumpsuit and practically snarled in his face. "N-Neji! What's g-going on?" Needless to say that this oblivious question earned him a smack to the head. "You left me at that dump without telling me anything!"

Neji only realized that Naruto had gone away after asking several questions which would've annoyed the dumb blond if he had heard them. He had looked like an idiot, and he was extremely pissed by it! No one made a fool of anyone bearing the surname Hyuuga!!

"Why did you leave, loser? I came up with a wonderful dish that would have us win the entire competition!" Neji exclaimed with anger, then excitement. The ideal dish for them to cook was something that he had learned how to cook when he was younger, and it was a very favorite desert of his as well. "So, what is it? What's the dish? What is it, huh?" the annoying voice belonging to Naruto shouted in excitement, forgetting their previous fight. "Hm, Naruto…We will make a chocolate soufflé!"

Naruto's eyes practically popped out of their sockets. Chocolate was his next favorite thing aside from ramen! Yes, this was a wonderful plan! Nothing could ruin it if they set up to work fast before anyone else had this very same idea!

"Oh my gosh, I could kiss you!" Naruto said as he hugged Neji with all his might. For once, Neji didn't mind the blonde's hug. He felt too blissful and proud to have anything ruin his mood. "Come, Naruto. We must prepare now. We should start by practicing how to make a soufflé, so we can defeat our opponents next Sunday!" Naruto nodded in agreement.

Yet a shadow stalked them while they shopped for the ingredients without them noticing at all. Naruto had been in charge of getting all the baking ingredients while Neji got the chocolate, since the blonde was not to be trusted with sugar at all. After paying for the groceries, going back to Naruto's house since Neji didn't want Naruto in his, and getting everything set up they prepared to make the wonderful, tasty dessert.

"It's strange, but I feel like someone's inside my house with us," Naruto whispered into Neji's ear, much to Neji's dislike. He, however, refused to encourage Naruto's suspicion due to the fact that they needed to finish the dessert.

"Naruto, it's your imagination. My byakugan and my amazing ninja skills would have warned me if there was an intruder in here," Neji explained, and went back to looking at the recipe he obtained from Hanabi's secret recipe book. "Yeah whatever, princess," Naruto said. He shared the information with Naruto and soon they were ready to begin.

"Naruto you have to melt the chocolate and then give it to me, so I can pour it in and mix it." Naruto started to get the chocolate, but had no choice but to stop after noticing that the chocolate was missing. He looked around for it, but he couldn't find it anywhere. 'Where the hell could it have all gone? There was a ton of it!' Naruto panicked at the thought of what Neji would do to him if he couldn't find the chocolate for the dessert! He tried to remain calm, but images of himself being baked in an oven with an apple inside his mouth kept distracting the poor genin.

Just when he was about to admit to Neji that he had lost the chocolate, he heard a strange noise coming from his bathroom. 'What could it be?' Naruto thought at once, for the first time. He began walking slowly towards the bathroom, unaware that Neji started talking to him (now talking to no one). He reached for the doorknob, held in his breath, and opened the door. Standing there in the bathtub covered in chocolate was…

"Sai! What the hell are you doing here?" Naruto shouted loud enough for anyone in Konoha to hear, except Neji, who still kept talking despite Naruto's absence. "Naruto, would you like some chocolate?" Sai answered Naruto's question with a question of his own in his seductive voice. He was clearly trying to seduce Naruto to no avail. "Get the hell out of my house! Pervert!!"

Sai faked a pout at Naruto's outburst. 'Great, stalking Naruto to the store failed!' Naruto kept glaring at Sai, but Sai didn't move at all. "Well, get out!" Naruto shouted once more. "I can't, but if you want to see me naked then stick around, Naruto-kun," said Sai in his sultry voice. Naruto would have shouted again if he had not heard footsteps nearing him.

"Naruto, where's the chocolate?" Neji asked, tapping his foot heavily on the floor. 'Stop tapping your heavy foot before you break my floor, Hyuuga!' Naruto wanted to say aloud, but decided against it. Neji walked into the bathroom, pushing Naruto aside, and gazed at the sight presented to him. "N-Naruto? What is he doing here?" Naruto looked at Neji and swore that he saw a small sly smile planted on the Hyuuga's lips. "He came over and stole our chocolate!" Naruto shouted, making Sai pout again.

"I merely borrowed the chocolate to try to entice Naruto-kun into becoming mine, but it didn't work! Though, you are looking very hot today, Hyuuga," Sai said to them. Naruto could've thrown up all the contents in his stomach right then and there after hearing it. Neji, on the other hand, winked at Sai. "Maybe you and I can meet up later, Sai," Neji said with a smile. Sai's face lit up with hope at hearing the Hyuuga invite him out. "Sure!" Sai immediately jumped out of the chocolate filled tub and ran to Neji.

"I can beat you up later then?" Sai stopped running towards Neji and gasped. Naruto looked at Neji as well with bewilderment. "I thought you liked him!" Naruto pointed out to Neji. He shook his head in disagreement and said, "I find him attractive, but I like girls. And Sai annoys me to no end. So, Sai, get out now!"

Sai pouted, but left anyway without any further argument. Just then a thought crossed Naruto's little mind. "Hey, he said that he was naked under all that chocolate! And he just walked out nude!!" Naruto began to panic, but Neji hit him in the head to calm him down. "Well, anything with chocolate has now been ruined thanks to your gay boy toy, Naruto. Let's meet up tomorrow in _my_ house and plan out another dish," Neji said and left abruptly afterwards. Naruto looked at the remaining chocolate in the tub and shuddered. There was no way in hell he would clean all that up! "Maybe I can get the pervy sage to clean it?"

_Meanwhile_

Gaara followed the girl of his dreams around most of the day. He felt as if a spell had been placed on him, and now he was completely in the control of a girl that didn't even know he existed. She walked into a flower shop and picked out several flowers that Gaara didn't seem interested in. In his cold, soft eyes, she was beyond beautiful and graceful than any flower he had ever encountered. She came out carrying a bundle of flowers that seemed too much for any girl to actually carry, but he was too timid to come and help her, so he stalked her instead.

She seemed to be looking around for someone, and Gaara knew who. It had to be those two men that she was with. Who else, right? Seeing the poor girl carrying all that with her while looking for someone just seemed to be too much for Gaara to bear, so he decided to come out of the shadows and help her with the things in her arms.

"Um, do you need some help?" Gaara asked in a whisper, but received no response. He looked up and noticed that he was nowhere near the girl. He had been too shy and nervous to notice that she was at least fifteen feet away from him. "Sure, sweetie! These boxes are so heavy," an elderly woman said to him. 'Damn,' Gaara cursed himself for being such a love-struck fool. And now he had to help some old hag he didn't know with heavy boxes! Well, he could always kill her, but that would draw unnecessary attention and that girl might hate him. So, Gaara was forced to help the old woman with boxes that felt like boulders.

An hour after that shameful incident, he began searching for his love. He looked around Konoha, but he couldn't find her at all. Before admitting defeat for the day, he noticed the girl walking to a secluded area within the forest that surrounded one of the many sides of Konoha. He followed her until she stopped in front of a hot spring. Now, Gaara wasn't stupid. He knew that she was about to take off her clothes and get into the hot spring, but his perverted mind (hormones, sigh) didn't let him turn away.

She began taking of her lavender kimono, but stopped when she felt eyes on her. 'Something's wrong. I don't recognize this presence, so is it an enemy?'

Gaara had been too preoccupied watching the girl take off her clothes to notice the two strong men lurking behind him. He only noticed when sand shot out, protecting him from two huge swords. He turned to see a blue man with gills on the sides of his face, and another with no eyebrows and bandages covering half his face. "Zabuza!" the young girl shouted, capturing Gaara's attention immediately. She had already taken half of her clothes off, exposing her chest to Gaara's eyes.

However, Gaara didn't see what most girls had on her chest. He was immediately thrown off, and began to blush big time. "Haku, do you know this boy?" the man with the bandages asked the girl, er, boy. "No, but I'm sure he didn't mean any harm. Please, let him go," Haku pleaded.

Zabuza stared down at Gaara and only grunted. "I guess this boy can't control his hormones, eh, Zabuza?" the blue man said to the other. He received a hit to the head as punishment. "Kisame, please don't tease Zabuza like that. Zabuza, you know he's just joking," Haku said, trying to keep the peace around there.

Poor Gaara was now confused. What was he to do now? The girl of his dreams was a boy, he had two angry men behind him, and he thought they were all weird. 'Damn," he cursed mentally. Before he had a chance to snap back into reality, he felt a soft hand caress his face gently. Gaara saw Haku in front of him, already fully clothed. Gaara swallowed the big lump in his throat before trying to speak to the beautiful boy in front of him.

"I think the kid's going to faint," Kisame noted. And indeed, Gaara did faint right after Kisame's words. Zabuza couldn't care less for this kid, but Haku seemed to. "Hm, so this kid uses sand as an attack. Then how come he didn't block your touch, Haku?" Haku looked up at his master and shrugged. How was he suppose to know something about a boy he never met? "Maybe it was my charm," Haku joked. Zabuza merely rolled his eyes and looked at Haku with longing in his eyes.

_Meanwhile_

"So, Sasuke, do you have any ideas for the dish we are suppose to make?" Sakura asked him with glittering eyes. She was so excited to be working with Sasuke, the opposite of what Sasuke was feeling. He just wanted to get this over with and return to the privacy of his own home.

"We could make…" Sasuke honestly didn't know any fancy dishes that they could whip up due to the fact that he only cooked for himself, and it wasn't exactly considered fancy. "Whatever you want will be fine," he stated bluntly. Sakura smiled at him and decided that it would be for the best if she chose the dish they were to prepare.

"It should involve fruits, ne? Maybe apples would be a nice choice, Sasuke," Sakura said, and kept on listing the various fruits that they could use in their dish. Sasuke had grown tired of her babbling and tuned her out. Something that people didn't know about Sasuke-kun was that he had a very small attention span, one that could rival Naruto's attention span. However, that was kept a secret for the sake of his reputation, name, and to save himself from embarrassment and keep all the girls to himself. Sasuke didn't mind fan girls, but he acted like he did. What kind of Uchiha would he be if he rejected the attention that was given to him? Yes, he was a diva at heart.

"Sakura, pick a fruit and meet me back at my house. I need to do something right now, so go to the store by yourself and then come to my house. See you later." And with that, our beloved diva left to go home. Sakura watched him go, but felt a little disappointed that Sasuke refused to go with her and spend time together. "I guess I will go now." Sakura left to go to the local grocery store.

Sakura entered the store and went to the area where all the fruits were located at. She saw tons of them, but none really stood out. She spent an hour searching for the right fruit, but to no avail. All her hopes were getting dimmer and dimmer by the second. Soon, she decided to get out of the store, only to find a very naked Sai walking around without a care in the world. She hid behind passing shoppers and other random people to avoid Sai. If he saw her, there's no telling what would happen. People gawked at Sai, but he enjoyed the attention too much to actually care what people said about him. Sakura, made sure that she was well hidden before dashing towards Sasuke's house.

The only thought plaguing her mind was, why wasn't Sai participating in the competition? Her mind soon let go of that thought once she saw something that took her breath away! There in the middle of a clearing near the forest was Sasuke without his shirt! (Fan girls squeal!) Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. In the clearing near the forest was the biggest mango she had ever seen! It's size was that of Gaara's gourd! Well, take a few inches off, and then you've got it!

She went over to it, picked it up carefully, and grinned widely. "This is perfect!" she shouted in her loudest voice. Through all the excitement in finally finding the perfect fruit, she almost forgot that she still needed to go to Sasuke's house. So Sakura hurried off to Sasuke's house to show him their miracle fruit. Sakura felt confident in their dish, whatever it may be. It just had to win the competition if they used the mango. Now Sasuke would love her for her discovery and natural good looks, right? Hmm… Maybe, if the guy chasing after her wouldn't catch her. After all, he just wanted his mango back, so he kept shouting, "Hey, come back with my mango!"

On the way to her beloved's house she ran across three very familiar shinobi. "Ino, Shikamaru, Choji?" She asked herself. All three were having tea and dumplings and were very calm. Did they even know they had a competition to win? Sakura walked closer to them, but then noticed something strange. All three looked high on something. They were acting calm but goofy at the same time. Choji kept flirting with Shikamaru, Ino kept laughing and barking like a dog, and Shikamaru kept on rocking back and forth on the bench they all sat on. 'They must be on whatever Asuma-sensei is on,' Sakura thought. Instead of looking at them any longer she decided that it was time to leave and reach the King's palace… oh, Sasuke's house!

Sakura came to Sasuke's front door. She stood there for awhile, taking in all the peripheral details of Sasuke's house that any fan girl would take in. She was about to knock on the door when she heard a faint noise from inside her beloved's house. "Damn it!" she heard through the door. It sounded like Sasuke was fighting in there, or perhaps he was being attacked! Sakura opened the door to find a huge mess everywhere.

"Sakura, is that you?" Sakura assumed from the mess and Sasuke's calm voice that he was not in danger at all. "Yup, where are you?"

Sasuke grunted a bit before answering, "I'm cleaning my house. Right now I'm cleaning the bathroom." Sasuke kept cleaning while half-listening to Sakura's words. "Okay, then. Oh, I got this wonderful mango and I figured that we could do a dish with it! It's so big and it looks juicy, Sasuke," Sakura said to him. Sasuke nodded, even though Sakura was in his living room and he was in the bathroom. Sasuke Uchiha couldn't care less for fruits or recipes, especially when his house was in such a mess!

"Um, Sasuke, I think we should get a cookbook so we can decide on the best dish to make. I doubt you have one, so I'll go to the store and get one!" Sakura left the mango in Sasuke's kitchen and walked to the front door. "Just make sure nothing happens to the mango, Sasuke. Oh, and don't eat it, but I don't need to tell the responsible Sasuke Uchiha that, ne?" Sakura smiled, thinking that Sasuke would appreciate the compliment even if he didn't show it. She walked out the door and headed to the store in search of a great recipe book.

"Whatever. Get vanilla flavor or else you'll get fat!" Sasuke shouted, completely unaware of anything that Sakura had previously said. After an hour of hard labor, the mighty Sasuke Uchiha had finished all the chores he had. His house was now the cleanest in all the world! However, all that tough work had let him weak and starving. He practically dragged himself to the kitchen and immediately began to look for something to eat. He didn't have to look far, though. There on his little, wobbly table was the biggest mango he had ever seen! It was just begging to be eaten by the beautiful, talented, strongest-- yeah, that's enough Sasuke! The point is… HE HAD TO EAT IT!! Why else would the mango be there? Hm, how did it get there anyway? The young Uchiha shook all the questions away and placed his hand on the delicious mango…

Yet something didn't feel right to him. He had something to do that involved the mango, but what was it? 'Did Sakura say something about it?' Sasuke thought. His brain automatically told him that Sakura had brought him the mango so he could eat it, and nothing more. So, he took it in his arms and…

TBC…

Next time on Naruto: Ready, Set, Cook!

The Akatsuki show up! Gaara finally finds a partner! And… whatever else pops up! LOL.

Please R&R.

And thanks to my two lovely reviewers Shadow Priesstes and Howls-Princess-loves-EdwardRoy!! And to readers out there that leave no review!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!


	3. Chapter 3

**NARUTO: READY, SET, COOK! **

**Chapter 2: Love, Tacos, and Temptation Part II**

Hey! Well, this is part 2 of chapter 2!! It will be short, so sorry. Hm, Thanks again to my readers!! Oh, and a lot of the ideas here were suggested or inspired by **Shadow Priesstes **and my sister. Hm, I forgot to mention that there will be some het love aside from yaoi. The same warnings still apply.

Disclaimer: Never will own Naruto!! I am not lucky enough to own it!! TT

_

* * *

Continued: _

Sasuke took the mango into his arms and…

Sakura came back to Sasuke's house with a cooking book that she had found. It took forever to find it, but she did in the end. Though she did have to wrestle a girl to get it. Why did that girl want the book for? She didn't have a ninja competition to win so the world's hottest Uchiha (in her eyes) would fall in love with her. Well, it didn't matter anymore.

The pink haired kunoichi opened the door (yeah, Sasuke does not lock his door!) and came in with a joyful smile placed on her face. "Sasuke! I'm back from the store, and I found a great recipe book, too!" she beamed with pride. Her smile soon washed away and was replaced by a face of pure horror and dread. The recipe book in her hands fell to the floor as she soon followed. Sakura was stunned!!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! YOU ATE THE MANGO!!!"

Sakura could only stutter after bellowing. Too anyone other than the two present in the room, she would have seemed like a mental case. Now, she laid in the fetal position, completely shocked and horrified since they had nothing now. Their chance at winning the competition was over!! SHE WAS IN HELL!!!

Three hours later… according to crazy Sakura's brain. (Like ten minutes later in reality time for sane people.)

There on the kitchen floor laid Sasuke with the pitiful remains of the once glorious mango all over and around him. Too be honest, he looked like a pig! (Sorry fan girls!) Sasuke was so stuffed, so he couldn't move at all. Sakura couldn't believe her eyes at all. Why on earth would he have eaten it after she specifically told him not to? She was indeed more confused than angered at this point. Could things get any worse?

"Ugh, my stomach feels so…" Whatever Sasuke's remaining words would have been they were silenced by the vomit currently coming out from his precious Uchiha mouth. Sakura felt pity growing somewhere really, really, really, really, really deep in her heart. It was so deep that it didn't even affect her at all. Okay, so could things get any more worse, or is that an ill-fated question that dooms anyone?

Your answer is here!

The door suddenly flew opened and was tossed somewhere into outer space, never to be seen again by a very livid blond. "YOU STOLE MY MANGO, UN!!" His voice nearly popped everyone's ear drums, which angered his companion. "Deidara, please be more quiet. I know that pink haired bitch stole your precious mango that you cared for more than me, but you can't make us deaf for it," the one and only Itachi Uchiha said to his boyfriend.

Deidara gasped and immediately kissed Itachi on the lips as an apology for his outburst. "I'm sorry, un. I didn't mean to make you feel unwanted, Itachi-kun." Too everyone's surprise a smile grew on the cold Uchiha's lips.

"WTF? You're dating a guy?" Sasuke suddenly asked, unaware of how filthy he looked at the moment. "As if you're in a position to lecture me, otouto. The sight of you makes my eyes sting and my tummy churn," he said to his brother. Sasuke felt as if everything he knew and believed in was sucked out of his tiny dinosaur brain and stepped on, followed by it being burned.

Sakura looked at Deidara and wondered how Sasuke thought that Deidara was a guy. 'He looks like a girl with a flat chest, so I thought he was a girl. Sasuke is so smart!'

Deidara noticed Sakura staring at him, and immediately jumped on her. He started to hit her face and yank her hair out while Itachi and Sasuke watched in disbelief.

"Aren't you going to help your girlfriend, pig?" Itachi asked with a grin. "She's not my girlfriend! I am not a pig! And I always wanted to see Sakura getting beaten up by someone!" Itachi's eyes widened, but he thought about it and decided that he agreed with Sasuke this time.

After thirty minutes of torture, Deidara decided that he was tired of beating the now half-dead girl up and went over to his boyfriend crying hysterically. Itachi put his strong arm around his beloved and comforted him. Sasuke only glanced at Sakura with little interest and decided he needed to call someone over. He picked up his cell phone from his pocket and speed dialed Naruto's number. "Hey, I got something that you might want to see," Sasuke told Naruto over the phone. _"Awesome! What is it? Is it porn?" _Naruto's annoying voice replied. "No, it's not porn, and it isn't ramen either. It has pink hair. Come over, dobe!" Sasuke hung up and went over to Sakura.

She was half-conscious and kept muttering something about mangos, apologies, and her hair. So the young Uchiha did the only thing that he thought of. He took out a stick out of nowhere and started to poke her hard on the forehead. "How is it possible for anyone to have a huge forehead like this?" he asked himself. Itachi had been watching him and sweat dropped. 'I can't believe I am related to him,' he thought. Though he did have to admit that his brother looked adorable like that. There was nothing cuter than watching a (evil) self-proclaimed avenger that is related to a murderer poke the girl that has always loved him hard on the head. Deidara noticed Itachi's quietness and looked to see what the reason was. Once he saw Sasuke he knew why. "Itachi, you really love him deep down, un?" The blond only needed to see the small (creepy and dangerous to anyone else) smile forming on his thin lips to know that he agreed with him.

"SASUKE! YOU KILLED MY SAKURA!!"

"Naruto's here," all three of the men said.

"Shut up, Naruto. Sakura's still alive, but my brother's boyfriend almost killed her," Sasuke explained. "Boyfriend? Your brother's gay?!" Naruto had obviously had so much happened to him in one day. He didn't think he could handle anymore. And honestly he did not care if Sasuke and Itachi killed each other off right now…which wasn't a bad idea to the blond idiot. "Sasuke? How come you haven't killed your brother? Don't tell me the great Sasuke Uchiha is still weak," Naruto taunted. Yet somehow Sasuke knew this was going to happen. "Naruto take _your _Sakura to the hospital and quit bugging me. I don't want to kill him anymore because I found out that we share some things in common. And I am tired of being an avenger. Can't I take a break?"

Naruto's eyes widened and he collapsed. Was the world coming to an end? What on earth could have made Sasuke say that? Or was he going crazy? Despite his questions, Naruto got Sakura and left to the hospital in a flash.

"What is the reason for not trying to kill me anymore, little brother?" Itachi really wanted to know, but he tried to remain calm. Sasuke's eyes got big and sparkly before answering, "You're my brother and you're suppose to help me in any way!" There was no way in the Akatsuki hell that Itachi Uchiha would believe that at all!! Deidara giggled when he saw the disappointed face Itachi made. "You better tell him or else he'll end up killing you. And besides he gets teased a lot, especially by yours truly when he wants some, un." Itachi made a deep growl, but otherwise ignored Deidara's teasing.

"I need your help in the competition I am in. We need to cook a dish to win, but it has to be the best damn thing ever! Since Sakura is in the hospital due to the beating she took from your boyfriend, I decided that you owe me big time! So… PAY UP!" Itachi literally fainted when he heard what his otouto wanted. 'He is right. If you hadn't come, then none of this would have happened,' his mind scolded him.

"Wait, why should we help?" Itachi suddenly piped up. Before Sasuke could retort, Itachi countered with his reasoning. "You stole the mango that Deidara worked hard to grow! You still owe us!"

Sasuke had been counting on this to be happening, so he was ready with his surprise move! (a/n: this sounds like a YU-GI-OH! duel.) "Yes, she did take it without your permission. I am not to be blamed in this since I was not present when it happened, but I am guilty of eating it. However, I have something to use against you, brother dear." Sasuke's serious face was suddenly replaced by the face of evil!

Itachi gulped, but waited for Sasuke to say whatever it was that he was going to say. "I still remember what happened when we took a bath together, Itachi. All those times… Remember?" Itachi's face collapsed. Deidara was he only one that was clueless, obviously. From the way Sasuke said it, it almost sounded like something horrible. Something that brothers shouldn't do! Deidara's mouth was wide opened now. Sasuke noticed, so he warned the poor blond. "You've got a fly inside your mouth." Well, it still is a warning.

Deidara made a disgusted face as he spat out the fly (now dead). "It isn't incest," Itachi said, making Deidara's face glow bright red from embarrassment. "T-then what was it?" Both Itachi and Sasuke glared at each other, and Deidara knew where this was going…Nowhere.

"I'll make some tea, un," he said as he left the Uchiha brothers to their glaring contest. Needless to say that the issue was over. Both Deidara and Itachi were going to help Sasuke and Sakura with their dish.

………………………………..._Meanwhile_………...………………………...

Gaara's eyes fluttered opened. He remembered half of what had happened earlier, but at the moment all he cared about was his poor, hurting head. He noticed that he was in a blue-colored room. It had a drawer, closet, a nightstand, a lamp on the nightstand, a small mirror hanging from a wall, and a vase with flowers too. And of course the bed in which he laid in. It felt really cozy and he noticed the sheets were probably satin. He turned to his side and saw the most beautiful sight ever! Haku was laying next to him on the bed and pretty close to him too. Gaara felt nervous, excited, and full of joy. His hand slowly reached over and stroked Haku's silky cheek. The boy smiled and neared the source of contact. A smile formed inside of Gaara, and he felt complete.

Haku opened up his eyes and noticed that Gaara was awake and staring at him. "Have a nice nap? You passed out, so I brought you to my room to rest. Well, mot my real room since we don't actually live in the village." Haku sure was cheerful, but it didn't annoy Gaara at all. He found it rather cute to have this beauty care about him. "Thanks," Gaara whispered.

'He's cute…And sexy!' Haku turned beet read when he realized what he had thought about Gaara. The red-head only turned away to hide his smile after seeing his secret crush (or love) blush. However before the atmosphere got anywhere near romantic it was brought down by loud laughter and cursing coming from another part of the…house? Where the heck were they? (a/n: I don't know either!)

Haku got off from the bed and walked to the plain exit door. "It seems that we have company downstairs." Gaara followed suit and came next to Haku before exiting the room. They walked down the stairs, and only then did Gaara notice that they were indeed inside a house in the forest. "We sort of borrowed the house," Haku explained, leaving out the actual details of how Zabuza threatened the poor people that were going to use the small house for their camping trip.

Upon reaching the living room, they were greeted with a room full of nine laughing people. All except for Zabuza, were wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them. They all seemed rather weird to Gaara, but he forced himself to remain calm and collected as always. They kept laughing at some joke that Kisame had told them, so they didn't notice Haku or Gaara until Konan pointed them out. "Zabuza, who are they?" Haku immediately bowed to the woman and introduced himself and Gaara. "I am Haku, Zabuza's assistant. And this is Gaara, we just met him."

The Akatsuki were rather impressed with Haku's mannerisms, since they usually didn't display them themselves nor did they ever got treated like that (I wonder why). "Nice bitch you have here, Zabuza," Hidan said. Gaara nearly pounced on the man for that remark. 'How dare he talk about Haku like that!' Haku restrained Gaara's arm, preventing him from actually doing any harm. "Haku's not a girl; he just looks like one, you ass," Zabuza cleared for Haku, whom was rather glad that he didn't have to explain it. The Akatsuki looked at Haku for a long time before deciding that Zabuza was right. "I though the same thing when I first met him," Kisame said with a grin. "No one wants to know, you idiotic shark." Kakuzu barked. "Why are you acting like this? Don't tell me it's that time of the month for you." giggled Konan and everyone burst out in laughter.

"Are you drunk?" The room went silent and nine pair of eyes (even though not all were visible) landed on the young red-head. Gaara blinked several times and started to get really uncomfortable. They all started laughing and some (Tobi, Pein, Sasori, and Zetsu) collapsed. Well, that question was answered rather quickly, ne?

"Gaara, I heard you were in the competition. Though I failed to hear whether you had a partner or not," Haku quietly said to him, while the still-standing Akatsuki and Zabuza gawked at them. "Um, I don't have one yet…but I can choose whoever I want as my partner," Gaara told the beautiful boy that happened to be standing a little too close to him now. How he wished he could just kiss him, but there was no doubt that he would be laughed at, punched by Zabuza, and laughed at again. Basically, he was afraid to kiss Haku for fear that the boy might not like him back. As if that was the case.

"Gaara, so who will you choose?" Haku asked, his hands practically shaking. He could feel his breath get shallow from waiting anxiously for Gaara's response. 'Great, I'm afraid now!' Haku tried to get calm, but then Gaara's answer came. "If you're a ninja, then we could partner up…and work together…if you wanted to."

Haku's eyes lit up like a fireworks. His heart raced, and he actually thought that he might die at that moment. However, he knew it wasn't a suitable time to get like this when Gaara was still waiting for his response. "I-I am a ninja. Um, we could…you know…if you wanted to…"Haku couldn't form a damn sentence around the red-haired boy. Then he suddenly heard a gruff grunt and remembered that his life was not exactly his yet. "Oh! If that's alright with you, Zabuza sir," Haku added quite quickly for Gaara's comfort. Gaara looked at Zabuza, and felt as if he was gazing into the pits of hell itself. Zabuza saw the fear within Gaara and smirked. "Fine, but we'll all be keeping a close eye on you two and your competition!" Zabuza barked, leaving no room for protest from anyone in the room. And yet again, the Akatsuki were dragged into the competition, no thanks to their leader whom was currently passed out from drinking too much. In fact, this almost felt like a set-up. Why did things turn out this way for them?

……………………...…..._The Next Day_………...……………………...…...

"So, Naruto…what the hell are we , going to do for the competition?" Neji asked from his phone. Naruto had decided to stay in the hospital since Sakura was yet to be released, and Neji was not happy with it at all. They were suppose to be together in the competition and work _together_, but instead things worked out differently. Who the hell would beat up Sakura? In his opinion there were many, but none would do it and send her to the hospital!

"Hm, I don't know…How about a chocolate cake?" Neji could have slapped Naruto for that, too bad jutsus didn't work across the phone or on certain blondes whenever you snapped your fingers. "Naruto, after that little stunt that Sai pulled deserts and especially chocolate are the last things on my mind!" Naruto made sure to hold the phone away from his ear. The Hyuuga sure could shout loud, and would most likely leave him deaf. "Okay, so let's meet tomorrow…Or whenever my beloved Sakura can get out of the hospital, okay? We can decide then!" Naruto's voice was cheerful, too cheerful for Neji. And as soon as those words were said, the line was dead. "Damn it! Who forgot to pay the phone bill?" Neji was livid!

And so another day went to waste for Neji and Naruto.

………………………………..._Meanwhile_…………….…...……………………...

"Damn, don't you guys know how to cook?" Sasuke scolded his brother and Deidara. The two were in charge of baking their cheery pie (nothing original, ne?) while Sasuke worked on cleaning everything up after doing most of the work himself. However, leaving two lovebirds in charge was far from a bright idea. Instead of watching the pie bake, they were too deeply involved in exploring each other's mouths and groping each other. And now they had to deal with a small kitchen fire…Well, Sasuke since the other two were no longer present there and currently working their way towards a more private area. Apparently, they had chosen Sasuke's room. Things weren't exactly working for them now, so who else could have trouble like they did now?

………………………………..._Meanwhile_……………………...………………...

Lee looked at Shikamaru with uneasiness. They had been like that for two days (after Shikamaru got through with being high), not really moving a muscle. And why? Well, they were currently playing GO! Why? Because Shikamaru said that it would help him concentrate on picking out a dish. LIAR! Lee suspected that it was merely a ploy so they would not have to cook at all, and waste all their time playing board games that were really boring to him.

Things were just getting ridiculous. They had no plan for when day actually came that they had to cook something; Shikamaru was behaving beyond lazy than his usual self; and Lee had not been able to see his beloved sensei in such a long time now!!! "Um, Shikamaru, we should try to come up with something for the competition. I know you don't want to cook or do anything for that matter, but I want to win!" Lee began to whine. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. 'Crap, I listened to this speech already!' His mind was getting drowsy from not sleeping during his time with Lee. He felt too tired to even be thinking now.

Lee kept on rambling until Shikamaru felt flat on his face, causing all of the pieces of the game to fall and scatter around the floor. Lee took a moment to process what had happened. 5...4...3...2...1! "I'M FREE!! I'M FREE! WHOO-HOO!!" Lee was ecstatic that he didn't have to play anymore, especially since he had never played in his entire life!

His mind finally gave him a bit of bad news that definitely took years of his life. "OH MY GOSH! WHAT THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO COOK?! AND HOW THE F--K AM I GOING TO WAKE UP A LAZY BASTARD!" Lee fell to his knees and cried several tears of sadness and frustration.

Looks like things didn't go well for this team. Maybe the next will succeed in something, ne?

………………………………..._Meanwhile_……...…………………………...

"Uh, no!" Hinata tried desperately to keep Choji from eating their ingredients, but kept failing every time. That caused them several trips to the grocery store, but their money was dwindling and Hinata's father and Choji's father were getting pretty sick and tired of giving them money. Hinata wished she had a jutsu to make food appear out of nowhere…Or transmute it by using alchemy…but that was a different anime unfortunately. (("That's right! Keep going!" a voice message from our dear Edward Elric.))

Choji didn't mean to eat all the food, but his tummy kept telling him to do it. And unless poor Choji wanted to suffer the consequences of his stomach, he had no choice but to obey the horrible commands that came from his beloved stomach.

Hinata grew tired of going to the grocery store, keeping Choji away from the food, and trying to look up the recipe for making a chocolate soufflé that had mysteriously disappeared from Hanabi's secret recipe book.

She collapsed and waited for Choji to stop eating, so maybe then she could die in peace.

So much for this team working out. Sigh, maybe the next one!

………………………...………..._Meanwhile_…………...……………………...

Kiba and Shino were far too busy to actually cook something. Somehow they had both admitted their feelings to each other, well, after getting into a food fight and nearly demolishing Asuma's house. Why Asuma's house? Well, he agreed to let the boys use it (after Kurenai asked) since both were not allowed to cook in their own houses. Must be a guy thing. Well, needless to say that they were both far too busy exploring each other to even think about the competition. That was a thing of the past now, and they didn't bother with it now.

Apparently, things worked out differently for this team, but the next has got to be better!

………………………………..._Meanwhile_……………...…………………...

Ino glared at Temari through the bars of her cell. She was livid, and wanted to get the hell out of jail! Temari glared back, feeling exactly how Ino felt. They knew that the other was never going to give up, so the war still kept going.

_A couple of hours earlier…_

The competition was going to be tough, both kunoichi knew that. They had to put their differences aside and worked together like the team they were forced to be in. However, if they had kept cooking the lobster and chopping the vegetables to go along with the lobster instead of talking about boys this would have never happened.

"You know, Shikamaru isn't all that bad when you get to know him on a very personal level. He may be lazy, but he's cute!" Ino chirped happily as her hand held the knife steady as she cut up the vegetables. At first, they were both having the time of their lives. They realized that they had many things in common, and both shared things to each other that they couldn't with others. Yet, jealousy and possession do get involved when someone becomes infatuated. And this was no exception.

"Sure, he is. But I bet he'd enjoy a comment like that if it came from an admirer, not his little sister," Temari said, immediately starting the war!

"Sister? Hm, I think he likes me. We have been spending more time together, and I've developed feelings for him. I'm sure that he feels the same about me!" Ino glanced up at Temari and noticed something was off.

"OH MY GOSH! YOU LOVE SHIKAMARU, YOU BITCH!"

Temari managed to get a hold of the pan containing the lobster while Ino clutched the knife in her hand. Immediately both girls began to hit each other with anything that their hands grasped. And after they were done with those utensils, they began pulling hair, kicking, punching, and biting. (A/N: Whatever happened to using jutsus?)

Well, their little brawl escalated up to the point when neighbors complained about the disturbance of the peace. And they were both tranquilized, put in jail, and were not to be released until a day before the competition was to end.

Eh, so much for them. Come on, you just knew something like this would happen! LOL.

…………………………...……..._Meanwhile_…………………………...……...

"So, you got anything?" Kankuro asked as he polished Crow. Temari, whom had given up on looking for the perfect dish after hours of reading, was now listening to music and sharpening her own weapons. "Nope. Nothing we cook will be edible. We're both lousy when it comes to the kitchen," she replied, with mild interest. They had both decided that they would try to win the competition, but their morale was not at all high. Now their only chance was to wait until the big day and then decide on a dish.

So much for this team as well…

……………………………...…..._The next day_……...…………………………...

"Okay, so it's decided! Naruto, this is what we will make!!" Neji was at last full of happiness. Nothing and certainly no blond idiots could burst his pink giddy bubble!

Naruto had come over surprisingly early to the Hyuuga's house to decide on the dish. He secretly came over early so he could then go back to the hospital and help Sakura back to her home, but Neji didn't need to know that, right?

Even though the Hyuuga pretty boy was wide awake at five in the morning (A/N: LOL. My bed time!), didn't mean that the poor Uzumaki kid was. Naruto was half-asleep and barely listening to Neji's piercing voice. He heard something about going to the store to buy their ingredients since Neji had to go and get something from the garden. 'Why the hell does he need to go to his garden for?' Naruto questioned, but left to the store nonetheless.

Arriving at the store, he forgot all that Neji had told him to pick up. Not a good sign. So instead of calling his teammate, he decided to go along with his memory as best as he could.

"Hm, I'm pretty sure he said something about tacos…I think." Naruto went all over the store and gathered all the things they needed to make tacos. It did bother him that he felt as if something was wrong.

"Since when does Hyuuga like tacos? I thought he ate stuck-up princess food." Naruto thought for a moment, but pretty soon his mind shut down and he had no choice but to pay for the stuff and go back to Neji.

Neji was absolutely delighted at the though of winning the competition. He felt that with his dish they were going to win. The first couple of days were chaotic, but now things were going to go smooth. He heard Naruto walk in into the kitchen and went to meet him there. 'Doesn't he know how to knock? I could have him thrown in jail!' As much as Neji would have loved to do that, he knew he needed Naruto (much to his dislike) and so he had to look out for Naruto.

"I got…yawn…the…yawn…taco…stuff…yawn," Naruto said, but looked at Neji when he received no response.

Neji's mouth was as wide as a fish's gasping for air. "WTF? NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!" Well, that woke the little dobe up. Naruto took a couple of steps back and asked, "W-what's wrong?" Neji's ears released steam and he answered, "Naruto, we were going to make sandwiches! Why the (bleep) did you buy (bleep)-ing taco (bleep) for?" Angry and tired, Naruto was in no mood to take crap from anyone!

"Damn! Neji, will do tacos now since I bought the stuff already! Stop complaining, princess!!" Neji roared and pounced on Naruto. Naruto yelped but rapidly managed to flip Neji over so that he would be on top and Neji on the bottom. They began to punch and kick each other and pretty soon both were unaware that they had almost destroyed the entire kitchen. After getting tired they glared and panted. Their fight was not a difficult one, but all the steam that was let off was nice and tiring.

"I told you that we were going to make fruit sandwiches, but you…" It was completely unnecessary for him to continue, even Naruto could piece it all together by now.

"Too bad! We're doing tacos! I want tacos!" Naruto shouted. "Well, I say fruit sandwiches are better!" Neji retorted. "Baka! Anyone can make a stupid sandwich!" "Dobe! Anyone can make tacos!" "Tacos rule!" "No!" "Yes!" "No!"

And so it kept on going for eight long hours, and the next few days weren't easy either. They kept debating about their dish anytime they could, never getting anywhere in the end.

* * *

TBC…

A/N: Hm, well this is where we are going to leave off for right now. As you can see the Akatsuki is now in it against their free will; Naruto and Neji can't do a simple thing together; the rest of the teams are no better off; Gaara has finally found a partner; and Sasuke can eat a huge mango by himself.

Well, next time… The Akatsuki are finally going to get really involved in the competition, causing several others to fail. Hm, some trouble within the Akatsuki as well. Orochimaru-sama joins us along with his, and mine, beloved Kabuto Yakushi. What are their plans? The Sound of Five might join us. And we'll see how the all of the sensei (jounin) are doing. Can they be better than the rookies?

And I am also at a loss for pairings. The only absolute one that I know of is the one between Itachi and Deidara, and that will not change. It's something special for one of my lovely reviewers. You know who you are. LOL. And maybe Kiba and Shino. Yeah, but the rest are all free for the taking! Choose whoever you want, no matter how crazy the pairing is. I will see which has the highest points. You can vote for as many pairings as possible. I just need help with deciding the pairings. So, if my dear readers and reviewers could help, then that would be awesome!

BYE!

:-)


	4. Chapter 4

**NARUTO: READY, SET, COOK! **

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Chapter Three: First Kiss With Dreadful Outcomes!**

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A/N: I felt guilty for not updating this story in such a long time, so I'm making this (filler) chapter! Thanks for the reviews and for voting for your pairings! That's still open, since there will be like two more chapters left. Special thanks to Brokenshardsofmyheart99, my wonderful beta!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Gaara kept cutting the carrots that Zabuza had placed in front of him. He noticed Kisame grinning at him, while he drank some sake. The redheaded young man felt the need to shudder, but fought it off. He looked around the kitchen and noticed Tobi and Zetsu talking and playing around with potatoes. The sight caught Gaara off guard, and he needed to look again and again to see if he was hallucinating or not.

"Gaara, careful with the carrots and your fingers," Konan kindly said to him.

"He can't get a cut! The sand protects him, Konan," Pein informed her. She nodded in understanding and made her way to him.

"You remember a lot, Pein. So… Do you want me to make you a treat?" Pein's eyes widened.

"S-sure… Thanks…" he whispered.

Gaara didn't see the big deal, but knew that Pein probably had a crush on Konan. He glanced around the kitchen again and saw Hidan and Kakuzu arguing in hushed voices, a miracle since they often shouted. And Sasori was polishing one of his puppets.

"Gaara, Zabuza wants to know if you're done with the carrots," Haku said to him, snapping him back into reality. Gaara nodded and handed Haku the cut carrots in a dish. Smiling, Haku took them and went over to the table where Zabuza sat, reading a book about torture. That made Gaara quite nervous.

"Here, Zabuza. Gaara's all done… Why do we need carrots for a cherry pie?" Haku asked, suspicion lining every word of his question.

Zabuza laughed cruelly. "We don't. It gave him something to do besides sitting down." Haku sweat dropped and nodded. "Is the pie done?"

"Um, I'll go check on that," Haku answered nervously. He left running to the oven and peeked in. "It's ready," Haku whispered with a giggle. He was about to take out the pie when a hand grabbed his.

"Here," the owner of the hand said. Haku eyes looked over and saw a blushing Gaara handing him the oven mitts.

Haku began to blush at the contact and smiled. "Thank you," he said sweetly.

"Haku, the pie's going to burn!" barked Zabuza from his seat.

Said person nodded and took out the pie from the oven in a hurry. Haku placed the pie down to cool and went to turn off the oven.

Gaara kept drooling over Haku, and obviously didn't notice the two people behind him. "Hey! How's everyone doing, un?" The entire room got silent.

Everyone looked up to see Deidara with his arm around Itachi's arm. "Hey Deidara. So did you get your mango back?" Hidan asked.

Deidara's face turned bright red. "THAT STUPID GIRL AND ITACHI'S BROTHER ATE IT!" No one dared speak or move after that outburst.

"Only my brother ate it, but she took it," Itachi corrected him.

Deidara looked at him with a dark glare.

"… Yes, they both ate my precious boyfriend's mango," Itachi said nervously.

"Quite an odd couple, ne, Gaara?" Haku asked from behind the redhead, making him jump a little. Gaara's eyes turned and saw Haku standing inches away from him.

"Let's go outside and let them do all the talking," Haku suggested. Gaara nodded and followed Haku outside. They walked in silence fro a while before stopping in middle of the forest, with nothing but the trees surrounding them.

"Haku…" Gaara said, almost in a whisper. Haku, however, heard him clearly and faced Gaara. The redhead blushed after seeing Haku's flawless face only centimeters away from his.

Haku smiled and leaned in. His lips touched Gaara's, but neither pulled away at all. Gaara put his arms around Haku's waist and pressed on to him. Haku moaned a bit, and placed his arms around Gaara's neck. Soon, Gaara's tongue was inside Haku's mouth. Both kept prolonging the kiss for as long as they could until…

"What the hell are you two doing?"

* * *

A/N: Well, here's my chapter! Who caught them? What will happen? Tune in next time! Thanks for reading! 


	5. Chapter 5

**NARUTO: READY, SET, COOK! **

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Chapter Four: Outcomes!**

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A/N: Again, this is a filler… I thought I could have gotten back to writing the entire thing, but… I need to update all of my stories! Why? Because people demand it from other ones, so then I feel guilty of neglecting other stories… It is a no-win situation. Thanks for the reviews, alerts, and favorites! And thanks to my beta, Brokenshardsofmyheart99!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

"What the hell are you two doing?"

Both Haku and Gaara broke their kiss and turned to see two familiar figures standing in front of them. One was blond and the other had dark hair… Both, however, wore very similar outfits. The Akatsuki cloaks.

"Were you both kissing, un?" the vivacious blond squealed with delight.

"Um, we were… N-nothing happened… I-I t-think…" Haku managed to say.

Both ninjas were caught in a compromising position that would only make things worse for everyone, not just some.

Deidara giggled, earning a bewildered look from his boyfriend. "So cute! Both of you are holding hands, un!"

Gaara and Haku released each other immediately. Their attention turned to the laughing pair in front of them. Nothing seemed to calm them down at all. Haku opened his mouth to say something, but that only earned more laughter from both.

"Why are you out here? Did they kick you two out?" Gaara's serious voice asked.

Both laughing ninjas stopped and stared at the redhead. "Well, they said that since Itachi and I were with Sas-uke's team… We weren't ALLOWED IN THERE WITH THEM!" Deidara shouted the last part at the trees behind him, just where the house was located at.

"Sas-uke?" Haku questioned. But received Itachi's nod as an answer.

"Are you sure it wasn't because you two are annoying?" Gaara asked.

Both looked at him as if they were already planning his funeral.

"If you two want to kiss, then that's solely your decision. Allow not others to judge or control your lives. The minute you have found the person you love, will be the minute when you have abolished all fears and doubts from your clouded hearts," Itachi said to the young ninjas.

Haku and Gaara looked at him with wide eyes, filled with admiration. A small blush painted their faces.

"Itachi, un… I never knew you believed in that. You know…. I think that just turned me on, un," the blond whispered into his boyfriend's ear. Itachi immediately picked him up and left to parts unknown to the two left behind.

"He's right… There may be consequences, but if we do love each other then everything will be okay. Love may be blind, but I think we can see through the fog of uncertainty, Gaara."

The redhead nodded and kissed Haku again, with even more passion than before. "I only fear for you and your relationship with Zabuza…"

Haku giggled, making the other blush. "He'll be okay with it. I'm sure things will turn out just fine." And with that another kiss was shared.

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A/N: Yawn! I am sleepy! I'm also hungry since I didn't eat at all!! Okay, so voting is still open… And I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!! Thanks for reading! 


	6. Chapter 6

**NARUTO: READY, SET, COOK!**

**Chapter Five: Relaxation**

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A/N: A filler chapter (again) for not being ready. There will be some ItaDei in this chapter… Actually, the entire chapter will be from their POV.

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

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After being kicked out by their fellow Akatsuki members and being chased out of Sasuke's house for not helping, Deidara and Itachi didn't have much to do now. They had been walking around the village with nothing to do. And much to their surprise, they were ignored by all the ninja they met, even though they were wanted criminals. The pressure of the cooking contest that the Hokage had declared seemed to have everyone on their toes and distracted.

"Itachi-kun, it's so hot," Deidara whined. It was in fact the truth, the village was hotter than it was used to. Many of the children they had cold drinks, stayed out of the sun, or had gotten frozen treats. Deidara began to envy them for their comfort. The black coats that they wore was getting him more hot and sweaty. He knew it had been a bad idea to have kept the coats on.

Itachi stopped walking and turned to look at his boyfriend. "Do you want something to cool you down?" he offered, trying to make his lover as comfortable as possible.

Deidara's face lit up. "Yes! Thank you, un!" he shouted. "And we should get out of the sun too," he said, looking up at the sky with hatred.

Nodding, Itachi led the way to a stand where they sold ice cream. He looked at Deidara so he could make a decision on what he wanted. Smiling with delight, the blonde looked over the many choices of flavors, there were even some that he had never heard of before. After spending five minutes looking over he made his decision.

"I want a cone with bubblegum flavored ice cream and vanilla flavored too!" he said to Itachi. The dark-haired ninja nodded. However, instead of buying the treat, he took it by force. He held a kunai to the man that was selling the ice cream, forcing him to scoop the two different ice creams fast and hand the cone over to the blonde. "Thanks, un," he said with a smile. Deidara stuck his tongue out and licked the ice cream.

"Do you like it?" Itachi asked. He nodded but paused afterwards.

"Don't you want one too?"

Itachi shook his head. "I'm fine without ice cream. Let's just go somewhere where there's plenty of shade." The pair walked off into the outskirts of the village and sat together underneath a tree. The sun wasn't passing through the trees too much, so it made the air cooler.

The blonde ninja pulled his boyfriend's head until it was lying on top of his lap. "Relax, un, you need to enjoy yourself," he whispered. Itachi smiled and remained on his lover's lap until he dozed off. Their day hadn't been perfect, but it had made them both happy. And perhaps when Itachi woke up, Deidara would convince him to undress from their clothes and do something else…

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A/N: Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

**NARUTO: READY, SET, COOK!**

**Chapter Six: End!**

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A/N: As much as I would like to keep going, I just need to end this. Too many filler chapters aren't good. So I'll have to end this now. Thanks to everyone that stuck around with this story. It was my first one (as you can tell from the bad quality in earlier chapters) and it was fun to do. Special thanks to my beta Brokenshardsofmyheart99!

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"I can't believe we ended up making two separate dishes, Naruto," Neji hissed under his breath. However, his partner seemed to be interested in looking around at what other teams had prepared. Unlike the younger ninjas, the older ones had not exactly accomplished anything.

Sasuke sighed and looked at what his brother and his boyfriend had brought him. "This smells so awful. They didn't even tell me what it is." He could hear the Akatsuki argue amongst themselves over who had done what and how everything had turned out.

"Well, at least ours looks edible!" Kakuzu said to Deidara, who turned his back on the other.

"And yet, you most likely didn't do anything, Kakuzu," Itachi said, coming the defense of his boyfriend.

Through their arguing, they failed to notice a certain Sannin who was not exactly welcomed into the village. "Well, now what exactly is the old man going to award them for their petty efforts?" Orochimaru asked his followers.

"Nothing great or good," Kabuto answered. He pushed his glasses back. "And I think it'll be obvious who will win this."

"After we wrecked most of their dishes and created chaos, there can't possibly be a winner," Kimimaro retorted.

Orochimaru snickered. "I suppose we'll have to wait and see."

Sighing, Temari turned to face her partner. "Look, it's too bad we fought over a boy, but I hope we can at least come together for the presentation of this."

Ino looked at her. "Yeah, why not? Something good will at least come out of this," she said, nodding. They shook hands and called it a temporary truce. "But we really have nothing prepared."

"Well, let's still keep the peace, okay?"

"Kankuro, what did we do?" Ten Ten asked the puppet master. He only shrugged in response, making her exhale a huge breath. "I guess we're out now."

Most of the teams had come to the conclusion that they were now out of the competition while the Third Hokage gave a speech. The only ones still in it were Naruto and Neji, and Kiba and Shino. Gaara and Haku would've still remained if not for the fact that when they admitted to Zabuza that they loved each other, he pummeled Gaara into the ground. It seemed impossible, but the results weren't lying.

"So, now please being up your dishes here," the Hokage announced. Naruto gulped and went up with Neji. Kiba and Shino went up to the stage with ease, almost as if they didn't care. "Now, then Kiba and Shino, what do the two of you have?"

Kiba looked around, anywhere but the Hokage's face. Shino answered for them both instead. "Well, we only have what we thought every Shinobi would need. It's a bar that contains only the most vital ingredients to help boost up a ninja's performance, endurance, and power." He took out a small bar and handed it over to the Hokage. "It's different from other food that claim to do the same. It lasts for five days and the ninja feels no side effects."

The other judges there each took a bite, all wearing worried expression on their faces. Mere seconds passed before they all opened their mouths and spat out the food. All eyes turned to Shino and Kiba. "Well, I never said it was going to taste good," Shino clarified.

The Third Hokage cleared his throat. "Next team, please."

"Neji, that's us!" Naruto exclaimed and drag Neji to the Hokage. "We're here! And here's our dish!"

"I knew it! All they have is ramen! That's not a dish!" Kiba shouted as the judges went on to taste the ramen.

Neji lowered his head. "You know what, Naruto? I forgot I needed to do something very important. Uh, you can stay here and I'll come back…" He began walking off the stage before running as fast as he could out of there.

"Well?" The Third Hokage asked the rest of the judges. They were all wearing the same expression as he, so he sighed. "It appears that Naruto is the winner of the contest."

"What the hell?" The Akatsuki paused their arguing and looked at the Hokage, expecting a joke. Orochimaru was no different either, as was Kimimaro. However, they both took out money handed it over to Kabuto, who took with a knowing smirk on his face.

Naruto grinned. "Looks like all my hard work paid off! So where's the prize?" The judges leaned in and whispered something so only Naruto could hear. "I have to do what?! Why is my reward a mission to some place I never heard off? What's Hell's Kitchen? Cook more?!"

"Tough luck, loser. Jus deal with it," Sasuke shouted at him.

"You're depressed because you lost!" Naruto shouted back. It was then that everyone felt lucky they had NOT won.

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The End!


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